I Can Control My Ancestors-Chapter 244 - 23: Cao Cao’s Death, The Opportunity to Unify the Land Arises
——The situation has completely reversed.
The defeat and death of Cao Ren caused the defense line deployed by Cao Cao to completely collapse.
Even the battlefield at Runan has already been affected.
Cao Cao had no choice but to retreat his army.
Now that Chen Country has been lost, Gu Chen can advance upon Jizhou State, advance upon Peng City, or even directly encircle Runan.
No matter which outcome, it is a significant loss that Cao Cao cannot afford.
He must retreat.
Facing the current situation, Cao Cao almost turned grey-haired overnight.
It is unknown whether it was due to the excessive grief over Cao Ren’s death or because the dreams he once had were becoming harder to achieve.
From this day forward.
Cao Cao was no longer the spirited and confident person he once was; there was an inexplicable sense of decline about him.
Everyone was helpless about this.
Facing a formidable opponent like Gu Chen is extremely unfortunate for any feudal lord.
What more could they say?
Jingzhou State.
The impact of this battle fought by Gu Chen was indeed too significant, proving fatal to the morale of Sun Ce’s soldiers.
Especially after Zhuge Liang foiled Zhou Yu’s fire attack plan at Jiangling once again.
Sun Ce too had no choice but to retreat back to Jiangdong.
The entire world’s situation changed dramatically since Gu Chen completely defeated Cao Ren.
....
Cao Cao reorganized his defenses in the two counties of Liang Kingdom and Pei Country.
For Cao Cao, his current strength was not lacking; the real problem lay in filling the gaps in morale and confidence among the people.
Gu Chen’s invincible reputation had become deeply ingrained in people’s hearts.
Not just others, even Cao Cao himself had developed a certain fear of Gu Chen.
This was Cao Cao’s most challenging issue.
Originally, Gu Yi thought Gu Chen would immediately seize this opportunity to charge into Peng City and eliminate Cao Cao completely.
But Gu Chen was in no hurry.
He was like a numb machine, insistent on arranging everything properly.
Gu Chen did not rush to attack.
Instead, he reorganized the army and took this opportunity to stabilize the public sentiment in Yingchuan and Chen Country.
Only after completing all of this.
Gu Chen once again mobilized his troops, continuing from Chen Country to attack toward Liang Kingdom.
Though he still had several capable generals under him, Cao Cao had to personally come to the forefront to prevent a complete collapse of morale.
Now, for Cao Cao. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
He only had one strategy against Gu Chen —
That is to stall Gu Chen!
He was certain, given the current situation, as long as Gu Chen could not unify the land within his lifetime, the world would inevitably fall into a deadlock.
At that time, Gu, Cao, Sun, and Liu.
The four forces would be evenly matched.
And the Cao Clan would have the hope of turning the tables.
To this point, he had placed all his ambitions on future generations, which was the only thing Cao Cao could do.
Fortunately, Gu Chen consistently maintained a stance against the aristocratic families.
This attitude forced many aristocrats to choose Cao Cao, providing considerable assistance to him in some ways.
But to truly block Gu Chen was nothing more than a pipe dream.
This battle.
Gu Chen was not fighting alone.
Although he fought steadily, he adapted to changing circumstances.
Now that Lu Bu was dead.
The troops stationed in Bingzhou State to guard against Lu Bu could switch from defense to offense.
March, Jian’an 12th;
——Zhang Liao led his army out of Jinyang to attack Bingzhou State.
At the same time, Liu Bei also launched an attack from Runan toward Pei Country.
All three forces moved simultaneously.
This was definitely a devastating blow to Cao Cao at this moment.
Cao Cao could only send trusted generals and sons to resist.
But ultimately, it was difficult to resist.
Zhang Liao was still manageable, though extremely brave, defending the city already had a natural advantage.
And Cao Zhang’s courage was no less than Zhang Liao’s.
But Gu Chen and Liu Bei’s offensive was different.
The most crucial point is —
Sun Ce also died.
Successive defeats gradually destabilized his control over Jiangdong, and the emergence of Jingzhou aristocrats particularly dissatisfied many in Jiangdong.
Amidst various conflicting interests.
Sun Ce was assassinated and died.
Before his death, he handed his seal to his brother Sun Quan.
But even this could not stabilize Jiangdong’s current imbalance directly.
Rebellions broke out across Jiangdong, causing constant internal chaos.
They could no longer intervene in the war in the Central Plains.
This was undoubtedly a devastating blow to Cao Cao.
How could he withstand three-pronged attacks in such circumstances?
The situation has completely changed!
In just one month, Chen Country was lost.
Even with Cao Cao present.
He could not stabilize the army morale that had completely collapsed; numerous city garrisons chose to surrender without a fight at the arrival of Gu Chen’s great army.
This inevitably affected Cao Cao’s defense.
He killed many people, but it could not halt the decline.
He had no choice but to keep retreating.
Relocating the capital again to Kaiyang.
Utilizing the terrain to engage in a tug-of-war with Gu Chen.
April;
Pei Country was also lost;
The internal turmoil in Jiangdong greatly reduced the pressure on Liu Bei, allowing him to mobilize more elite forces.
——Especially Guan Yu.
It was as if he was holding a grudge.
To him, the generals of Jiangdong were mere rats; he only sought to fight heroically on the front lines alongside his brothers.
After arriving in Runan, he passed through five checkpoints and defeated six generals.
Completely breaking the already non-existent fighting spirit of Cao’s forces.
Aiding Liu Bei in capturing Xiang County, the strategic town of Pei Country.
The entire land of Yu Province was utterly lost.
Yan Province and Yangzhou State were successively isolated by Gu Chen and Liu Bei, their armies setting their sights on Qingxu.
